Atlanta's Alliance Theatre, which recently named Tarell Alvin McCraney's In the Red and Brown Water the winning entry in its 2007 Kendeda Graduate Playwriting Competition, will present free staged readings of the top four finalist's works from that competition.

Actors and directors from the Atlanta area will come together Feb. 4-5 for two days of staged readings of the four plays named as finalists.

Lisa Adler directs Green, penned by playwright Bekah Brunstetter, which will be presented Feb. 4 at 2 PM. The play, according to press notes, is described as such: "When Clint returns from Iraq to his strangely liberal Bible Belt college community, Alex, his best friend, and Rhea, Alex's confused and beautiful girlfriend, await him with baited breath. Clint wants to settle back down into normal life, but his memories of his experiences at war make this adjustment harder for him than he ever anticipated."

Election Day by Josh Tobiessen will be staged Feb. 4 at 7:30 PM. Jay Freer directs the comedy that takes place on the day of a local elections: "All Adam has planned is a quick trip down the street to vote. The only problem is his overzealous girlfriend, a mayoral candidate willing to do anything for a vote, and his eco-terrorist sister both have plans of their own."

Merri Biechler's Confessions of a Reluctant Caregiver, staged by Mira Hirsch, will be offered Feb. 5 at 2 PM. "When Mae Benjamin moves back home to care for her terminally ill father, she imagines moments of reconciliation and grace," according to press notes. "But as her father's health declines, his obsession with the Sci-Fi Network and creating a machine to deliver him to another dimension intensifies. Using the machine, Mae summons her mother for guidance and with humor and compassion strives to reach her final goal — to give her father a good death."

The fourth finalist is Ross Maxwell's Blind, Bleeding, Drugged and Drunk, which will be seen Feb. 5 at 7:30 PM. Kate Warner directs the satirical comedy about Terry Douglas, "a young, up-and-coming playwright of color who wins a grant for her compassionate play about AIDS. But she can only receive the award if she is a gay white man! Desperate to keep the grant money, she finds Ogden Brier, the worst gay man in the world with the worst gay secret in the world, to be her co-author. As Ogden's dark plans unravel, jeopardizing Terry's success, she's pushed to see how much she'll put up with for her one big break." Tarell Alvin McCraney's In the Red and Brown Water, the winner of the 2007 Kendeda Graduate Playwriting Competition, plays the Alliance Feb. 1-24. Drama Desk nominee Tina Landau helms the production, described as "a dizzyingly poetic tale of difficult choices, profound relationships and sweeping emotions. It tells the story of Oya, a young woman facing difficult choices regarding her athletic talent, her attendance at college, caring for her ailing mother and her desires for a military man (while married to another man). The play, with its gorgeous language woven in to a haunting portrait of young womanhood, is based on Lorca and Yoruba myth."

All readings are free and open to the public. The Kendeda Graduate Playwriting Competition finalist readings will take place in the Memorial Arts Building on the 3rd Floor in the Black Box Theatre. Reservations can be made by phoning (404) 733-4630.

Tickets for In the Red and Brown Water are available by calling (404) 733-5000 or by visiting www.alliancetheatre.org.

The Alliance Theatre is located within the Woodruff Arts Center, at the corner of Peachtree Street and 15th Street, in Atlanta, GA.